AIBU to bloody hate cyclists

[FortyAndFlagging]

I have just trailed three cyclists during the course of the day. Honest to God, why don't they just pull over and let people pass?

@ivykaty44 I've had lots of problems with horse riders while cycling. Where I live, cyclists are the enemy and everyone feels justified in being rude to them, even when they are doing the right thing. This is a wealthy area and horse riding is popular.

I remember one pair of women who were riding side-by-side along the footpath on an A road (that you are allowed to cycle and ride on). They were chatting. I was yelling "hello" at them from behind and they could not hear me because of the roar of the traffic and because they were chatting. When they finally noticed I was there , they accused me of frightening their horses by appearing suddenly behind them. The horses had not even twitched. I believe the horses had heard me from the start. There have been several other similar occasions.

A few days ago, a came up behind some horse riders on a quiet road, shouted out "hello" to them and instead of simply giving me a friendly reply like "hello" they said "shame rest of you lot don't do that". Grrrr!

The roads are too busy! I go cycling at 6am for safety.

Dimsum123 the pollution will be less for the cyclists in those conditions than the person sat in the vehicle actually polluting, that is what was written

Where on earth did you read that London has clean air, or has the pollution started having an affect?

I both cycle and drive. I think cycling has made me a much better more aware driver. I do get a bit nervous driving around some cyclists as I can tell if they’re confident or not. However, I never tailgate them, give them plenty of room and slow down when over taking. It’s not hard to do that.

Unfortunately many drivers feel like only motorised vehicles should be on the road. They have a huge sense of entitlement to what is a shared public space (which general taxes pay for, for those who still believe road tax exists). They don’t notice the hundreds of traffic violations made by other drivers on their way to work but will notice the one cyclist going through a red light and be enraged because that person isn’t apparently supposed to even be on the road.

I’m hoping the days when car is king is coming to an end. Hopefully self driving cars will be the norm within my lifetime.

Cyclists are a fucking nuisance. If anyone else impeded the free flow of traffic like they do they’d be prosecuted. Oh, and they should be required to have liability insurance. And while I think of it, their Lycra ‘go-faster’ outfits look both fucking ridiculous and repulsive. Bring on the insults, I don’t give a shit.

Some cyclists like some car drivers are absolute wankers.

This. Has it never occurred to you that they are also probably the same people? The inconsiderate cyclists, the ones who never let anyone pass, who go through red lights, who cycle in the dark whilst wearing black and without lights are probably at other moments inconsiderate drivers who change lanes without signalling and race up to your bumper and inconsiderate pedestrians who let doors slam into your face! Wankers are wankers howevery they travel.

I'm very happy for cyclists to be on the road, it's the cyclists on pavements that alarm me. I don't own a car and walk on foot/bus everywhere in a famous cycling city. I have nearly been mown down by cyclists racing up behind me on the pavement on multiple occasions, including being shouted at by one when I had the audacity to get off the bus and continue walking on the side nearest the road to the pelican crossing 10 meters away as I was on the 'wrong side' of the pavement.

Plus there is always a daily incident with a cyclist at full speed having to come to an emergency stop to avoid hitting a pedestrian at one of my main bus stops even though they can clearly see the people waiting to get on the bus from a long distance away. Those are the type of cyclists that drive me nuts, I'm delighted when they're on the actual road.

Because (a) it is absolutely vanishingly unlikely that there was no overtaking opportunity in that distance. And (b) there was no way the poster could have known what was happening 40 cars in front.

Actually last weekend we were at the head of a massive queue and it was completely impossible to overtake a group of cyclists all the way to our nearest town, which is 9 miles. There are double white lines a lot of the way and everywhere it would have been safe to pass there was oncoming traffic. Much of the road is uphill too, so it was extremely slow. The cyclists were all over the road, several abreast, shouting to each other and having a whale of a time. When we did actually pass them, safely, we then got held up at temporary lights and they all squeezed down the inside or went round us and got back in front again. One of them leaned down and shouted car cunts at us. Lovely.

If anyone else impeded the free flow of traffic like they do they’d be prosecuted

Yeah right, free flowing traffic 😂 drivers seem to cause gridlock on motorways and A roads all by themselves yet don’t get prosecuted

I’m a pedestrian, I have far more problems with cyclists than cars. Cars tend to stop at red lights, you never know with a cyclist. Cyclists come up on the pavement as and when they feel like it and on stretches of road that are busy I have been pushed into the road with my 2 children to let grown men cyclists pass us on the pavement.

I know you get good cyclists but there is an element who are beyond selfish and due to them not having a number plate they get away with murder. A good cyclist would be pleased to have a number plate, it’s only the awful ones who take advantage.

Actually last weekend we were at the head of a massive queue and it was completely impossible to overtake a group of cyclists all the way to our nearest town, which is 9 miles. There are double white lines a lot of the way and everywhere it would have been safe to pass there was oncoming traffic. Much of the road is uphill too, so it was extremely slow. The cyclists were all over the road, several abreast, shouting to each other and having a whale of a time.

I don't even know where to start. The pride in such ignorance is baffling.

1. Given you are clearly such a perfect driver, I'm sure you are aware of the Highway Code, yes? Including the part where is says you can overtake something travelling at

Cyclists are a fucking nuisance. If anyone else impeded the free flow of traffic like they do they’d be prosecuted. Oh, and they should be required to have liability insurance. And while I think of it, their Lycra ‘go-faster’ outfits look both fucking ridiculous and repulsive. Bring on the insults, I don’t give a shit.

Even though you are clearly just trolling (because nobody that monumentally stupid is allowed out unsupervised, surely), that's pathetic.

There are far far more inconsiderate/ rude/ wanker car drivers than cyclists or horse riders. They just love pitting vulnerable road users against each other.

Just foul stuff on this thread, none of you should be allowed behind the wheel of a car as you are clearly incompetent drivers.

All this 'cyclists shouldn't be allowed to cycle for leisure only in jeans to the shops' but drivers can take their cars out to go to the beach, the golf course, to go and buy unneeded shit that will end up in landfill, to have your nails done or my favourite to drive to the gym. Yeah way way more important than people using the road to cycle on

And women cycle for leisure too and belong to clubs.

I live in London and rarely drive. I LOATHE cyclists. As a pedestrian, they're a complete menace. Jumping red lights, cycling along the pavement, going the wrong way up a one-way road, just generally a law to themselves. I saw a guy cycle the wrong way down Regent Street (lethal, could have caused a major accident) a few months back in full view of a policeman, who shouted at him but couldn't do anything. I think bikes should have licence plates like cars do, at least they could then be made accountable.

I wonder if all of these people who ‘hate’ cyclists would be happy if every cyclist gave up and got into a car. I wonder if the extra cars on the road would make their journeys faster and health better?

There are far too many people on here who appear too impatient and angry to be driving. I think people should be made to resit their driving test every 5 years as there are a hell of a lot of poor drivers who can’t cope with modern roads and the multiple uses of it as demonstrated on this thread.

Also a PP said that as a pedestrian she has more problems with cyclists than cars. Really? As a cyclist and driver I will always be more wary of drivers.

Also when cycling the number of pedestrians who don’t look before crossing a road amazes me. If they don’t hear an engine they just step into the road, often glued to their phone. I’ve had to swerve or emergency break twice in the last 3 weeks because of this.

I genuinely think all road users inc cyclists, drivers and pedestrians need to be cognizant of other road users. People in general are becoming more impatient and selfish on the road but maybe it’s just because there are too many vehicles on the road.

I dont live in London but go there frequently and have never found cyclists to be the greatest hazard but as you are .

I genuinely think all road users inc cyclists, drivers and pedestrians need to be cognizant of other road users. People in general are becoming more impatient and selfish on the road but maybe it’s just because there are too many vehicles on the road.

^^couldn't agree more.

Have you seen the state of the side of many roads from a cyclists perspective op? Potholes, drains, rubbish, broken bottles. The lot. Making you very vulnerable as a cyclist. Also if you're turning right, you need to position yourself correctly.

All cyclists are a menace? Even the dead ones? Killed by legally going about their business.

@Unfinishedkitchen, totally agree with your post.

I too am so much more aware of cyclists since I started road cycling myself. On the whole, I had little bad experience with drivers, but you can à most tell who might be cyclists themselves and who are clearly not and irritated by them.

I had motorists shouting because they think I gone too far to the middle of the road before they show up. I remember cyclists doim this when I drove and assumed it was deliberate and indeed annoying although I never acted in frustration.

Tbe reason is that there are many pot holes on our roads and some very bad. They need to be avoided very quickly or risking being ejected from the bike. Because some drivers don't give enough space, if you find yourself in fron of one when a car passes, you are risking hitting the car trying to avoid it or being ejected in front of it if hitting the pothole.

So drivers, please, give enough space to cyclists when passing them so that they have enough room to avoid a point hole (or potential animal crossing the road) if required.

To be fair, I find anyone travelling on a 60 limit road at 20-30 in pursuit of their hobby, deliberately impeding people overtaking and causing frustration to other road users annoying. Most of those just happen to be cyclists.

We are all ignoring the main issue - we need cycle lanes, rather than having them on the road. Part of the highway code is to keep up with traffic, learning road speed signs and keeping as close to them to ensure smooth flow of traffic. No it isn't that "you must drive at 50" but in a car you could be the cause of an accident if you decided to do a 50mph road at 20mph - which seems to be top speed for most cyclists.

It is dangerous when you have 2 abreast, or when they wobble all over the road. They do hold up traffic - enough to power their own journey in a car if you look at the extra exhaust fumes pumped out as cars have to crunch gears down, wait to pass pass and then get back up to the road speed limit.

Personally i've had a cyclist go into the back of me causing over 1k of damage whilst I sat at a red light - no insurance and he hot footed it sharpish - it was me asking him if he was alright having opened my door to check and him who cycled off! So where is the accountability? If I had hit him i'd presumably have lost my licence because I would have been travelling faster yet it is his choice to be on a fast road and not look where he is going. It's almost sado-masochistic to cycle on a road IMO. A prime example of a hobby where a dangerous minority are pretending to be alturistic when it is actually "for the insta".

Am aware I will get flamed so prob won't check this thread again.

@Alarae I cycle close to the kerb, often on the double yellows and only venture out about 50cm into the road if I need to swerve a drain.

Just on this specific point. Alarae, please reconsider this.

Cycling on the paint can be very dangerous - not only is it slippery, being so close to the kerb leaves you (a) exposed to all the gutter crap which can cause punctures or blowouts; but (b) leaves you nowhere to go if a vehicle nudges too closely. You are also risking catching a pedal on the kerbstone which can topple you off.

Secondly, it makes you less visible so you are more likely to be hit from behind with the SMIDSY excuse (sorry mate, I didn't see you). Added to which if you are unpredictably swerving out to avoid drain covers, this is a much more difficult ride for you; and for those around you.

So by tucking yourself away like that, you are actually significantly multiplying the risk you will be involved in an incident.

You are safer to ride further out where you can be seen and run less risk of the above.

Cyclists should have to complete a test before being allowed to ride on the road. Car drivers and motorcyclists do, and they should be fined just the same for running a red light.

Most cyclists I see do stupid manoeuvres like coming up the left of the lorry, run red lights and almost run over pedestrians

Cars also run red lights and hit pedestrians, except when they do it they kill them.